Visit to Easdale Pools

I took the Polar Bear up to Easdale as he’d not been before. Up towards Oban, we crossed the Atlantic onto the island of Seil then via a wee ferry over to Easdale. The pools were blue and gorgeous and hardly anyone else was there as there was no electricity on Seil or Easdale due to power line work. We had our own picnic so were not deterred. A huge slow gentle swell broke on the shore in a powerful and scary manner. We dived into the pool, which is an abandoned slate quarry, and marvelled at the startlingly clear water – the pools seem bottomless. We took lots of fun photos of each other swimming and diving, then picnicked, then climbed to the top of the hill, wading through bluebells, Daisy being quite safe as there are no cars on Easdale – only wheelbarrows! A passing yacht recognised the Polar Bear from afar and hailed; a jet whooshed by; boats went up and down the Sound of Mull. Another day in our paradise.

This site is about my new Anglo-Israeli, yet-to-be-published novel, Night Swimming in the Jordan. It's also about both night and day swimming in the seas and rivers of Devon, England, where I have lived for 25 years.

Wild swimming or outdoor swimming in rivers, lakes, lidos and sea is a sport that is regaining popularity in the UK. This page highlights news items that illustrate the popularity and growth of wild swimming as well as comparing attitudes in the UK with those aboard.